Clarity
by Dragonbytes770
Summary: Sephiroth was born to be a war machine, nothing else. Until one day, he meets her, the only ray of sunshine in his miserable life. His only friend. But, Sephiroth wasn't supposed to have friends that weren't SOLDIERS. A girl like her would show him too many things that he wasn't supposed to see. She would show him how the people he was ordered to kill, were just like her.
1. Clarity

_**A.N: **__Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated Mr. Goldfish in a very long time! I'm really braindead! But I'll think of something!_

_Anyway, I was thinking, why is Sephiroth so cold all the time? Not in FFVII (he's mental there,) but in Crisis Core. Yes, he's most definitely more friendly in that, but he's still kind of cold. And then I thought, we don't know much about Sephiroth's childhood (and I'm making it so that this story is set before he meets Genesis and Angeal.) We know that his dad is Hojo and that his mother was Lucrecia and he was told that his mother is Jenova. What did Sephiroth do throughout his adolescence (besides probably going through being experimented on and put into training as a SOLDIER?) He had to have at least one friend, right?_

**Clarity**

_The Professor says that I was born to be a SOLDIER. The people at Shinra say that I'm a science experiment. And the people of Midgar don't know that I exist. But she, she says I'm just an ordinary boy._

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Gloomy, gray stormclouds circled over Midgar, casting an enormous, dark shadow over the city. The sun hadn't shown in months and the people in the city walked around with no purpose, as if they were emotionless zombies with gray faces, just waiting for their next paycheck. If you were to walk outside the streets would be filled with the rushed pace of feet tapping on the pavement and the rough sound of rubber wheels rolling on pavement. There were never any children playing, there was never any laughter, there was never any happiness, and no one ever smiled. The air of the city was thick with despondence and every citizen of the city's faces were filled with so much stress that they looked like time bombs, about to blow up at any moment.

Meanwhile the young Sephiroth was shut inside his room. The inside of his living quarters was no different from the outside world, gray and gloomy. Littered across the floor there were broken manikins, mutilated and sliced into bits by what looked to be a razor sharp blade. His walls were covered in holes, cracked circles indented into the gray plaster. No one ever bothered to fix it, no one ever cared. All he was to them was an object, a monster, a creature that was going to grow up and have the power to win the company countless victories. He would be looked up to by everyone. He would be a war hero and nothing else.

The Professor said that he would able to enter SOLDIER trained in two years, when he was thirteen. Then he would be able to become the ultimate killing machine.

Sephiroth looked out of his window out into the city, the one that he was supposed to save one day. He sighed and pressed his face up against the cold window. he had done enough training for the day, besides he had already mutilated all of his minikans. All he had to do was wait until the maids came to his room to clean up the mess he had made and then in the morning they would come in with another bunch of them. Now he would stare at the world below him, maybe sharpen his sword every once in a while, but he would sit and stare. Sephiroth pressed his face further into the glass, smelling the old smell of dust and grime on the window sill.

He had almost fallen asleep when he heard the light tap of little footsteps and the hinge of his door squeak as the door opened slightly.

Sephiroth jerked his head towards the door and quickly lifted his sword so that it pointed in that direction.

People weren't supposed to be here now. People weren't supposed to disturb him. People were supposed to leave him alone until morning. The only person who would ever disturb him at this time of day would be The Professor, but his footsteps weren't light.

"What do you want?" Sephiroth barked in the direction of the door.

A small girl about his age slowly sidestepped into his vision. Her hair was golden blonde and she was wearing a knee-length dark blue frock and a baggy gray sweater. She walked in really slowly and her legs were clenched together. Her face was pink and scrunched up into an uncomfortable looking expression and her hands were crossed over her abdomen.

"Uh-umm, do you know where the bathroom is?"

Sephiroth lowered his blade and his brow furrowed.

"What?!"

"Please! I really need to pee!" The girl pleaded, slightly hopping up and down on each foot.

"What? How did you get in? How are you here?"

"The orphanage bathroom was all full and I really need to go! And then I thought it would be cool if I could go into the Shinra mansion!"

Sephiroth quirked his head.

"How did you get past security?"

"I don't know, I just ran!"

There was a moment of silence as Sephiroth stood there, dumbfounded.

_Was she this desperate to find a bathroom or just plain stupid?_

The silence was broken by the girl's high pitched squeal of discomfort.

"_Please _tell me where a bathroom is!" The girl whined and she began to squirm some more, her face red and filled with tension.

Sephiroth pinched the skin on his forehead and sighed, his sword still resting in his right hand, lightly tapping the ground.

"It's at the end of the hallway, first door on the left."

Without hesitation the young blonde girl ran as fast as she could down the hallway, sprinting towards the bathroom but still trying to keep her legs together at the same time.

Sephiroth, without even bothering to shut his now open door, walked over to his window and sat down again pressing his head up against the glass and letting himself slowly drift off to sleep again. He tried not to think about the girl, he just wanted to forget about her. Sephiroth wanted to forget about this whole fiasco, this disturbance of his daily schedule. This strange little person who had more energy than all the people in this lonely city put together.

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Sephiroth groaned as he awoke from his nap, and then looked to his cracked clock, hanging at an angle over one of the holes in the wall. It had only been five minutes. His little rest could barely even count as a nap, Sephiroth had never slept for such a short time in his life. But-

_What woke me up? _He thought, furrowing his brow and turning towards the open door that he hadn't bothered to close.

He heard hard thuds and the clanking of plastic from down the hallway. He also heard the desperate pleas of a certain blonde haired girl.

"Please, _please, _don't tell her that I went here! She'll kill me if she finds out!" The young girl pleaded, her feet dragging on the carpet behind her, and the two armored men dragging her along by her arms. They had masks and their entire bodies were covered in white plates of plastic.

They were security. The two men chuckled as they continued to briskly march down the hallway.

"Like we care!"

"_Please, please, please, please!_" She begged. "I'll do anything!"

The man on the left laughed.

"Like what, you little brat?"

"Uh-I could do work! I could clean the kitchen, I would clean the bathrooms, I can dust!"

The two men scoffed, making the girl frown. She thought for a second or two.

"Oh! I know! I'll clean the ballroom floor with a toothbrush!" The girl offered.

"We don't have a ballroom." One of the men said.

"You're gonna take you back to your mistress whether you like it or not, you little twit!" The two men began laughing, continuing to drag the blonde girl down the hallway.

The young girl started to cry, big fat tears streamed down her cheeks and staining her blue dress.

"_Please!_" She sobbed. "_PLEASE, please, please, _don't tell her! She'll kill me and throw my body into an alleyway to be eaten by wild anima-a-a-als!" She cried, sobbing the last word so that it dragged out.

"Would you shut up already?!" One of the men shouted, getting irritated.

"_PLEASE!_" More tears streamed down the girl's cheeks. "I don't wanna die!"

"That's it, you annoying brat!" The two men stopped right outside of an open doorway and roughly shoved the young blonde girl onto the ground. She stopped crying and looked up to the two security guards. She rubbed her now red eyes and backed away slightly as the two men closed in on her like two rattlesnakes hovering over their prey.

One of the guards pulled out a large club from his belt.

"This outta shut you up." He grinned as he raised the club over the young girl.

The young blonde in the blue dress closed her eyes and covered her head, waiting for the imminent blow that would come crashing down onto her small body.

But, it never came.

"Hey! You two, let her go! She's with me!" A young, yet deep voice barked from the open doorway.

The two guards looked over to the young silver haired boy standing in the doorway with his long, steel sword.

"How could she be with you?!" The man holding the club scoffed. "The Professor said you weren't supposed to have friends! And from what we know, you don't have an-!"

"No one asked for opinion, idiot!" Sephiroth growled.

The young girl, totally silent, brought her arms down from above her head, and this time, as she stared at the boy, she was the one who was dumbfounded.

"Excuse me-" One of the guards started, but then the other guard stopped him. He grasped the other guard's shoulder and leaned in close to whisper something in his ear.

"This is the monster kid that they're breeding as a weapon, if you hurt him they would kill us." The guard brusquely whispered into the other guards ear. But the security guard didn't care.

"He's just an eleven year old, Chuck, we could take him." The man said blatantly, staring straight into the burning eyes of the silver haired boy who was glaring at him.

Chuck continued to whisper into his buddy's ear.

"He could kill us right here, and right now! And, if you so much as touch him then The President and that crack job professor will have you hide!"

"Oh really?" The security guard asked casually, no fear in his eyes whatsoever. "I'd like to test that!" The security guard said, hitting his club into his palm as he advanced on the boy.

Sephiroth smirked, happy to be able to test what he had been doing on those manikins for years on a real person.

The security guard, eyes full of malice, tossed his club into the air and then caught it again, not ever breaking eye contact with the eleven year old. He let out a slight laugh and raised his club to strike the boy.

But, even before he could lower his arm even an inch to hit the young Sephiroth, his club was cut into neat slices. each one landed on the ground with a small _chink. _And before the security guard could blink, or even take a breath for that matter, the end of Sephiroth's blade was at his throat, pushing him up against the wall of the hallway.

"Don't be so sure of yourself next time." Sephiroth smirked.

The girl sitting on the floor's eyes were wide open, and her mouth was in a perfect "O" shape. She was frozen into place, amazed by the power of this boy no older than she was. Chuck's face matched the girls, but his eyes were filled with more terror than the girl's were.

"Now, you two hand over my friend here, and I'll spare your lives." Sephiroth demanded in a calm tone, still smirking at his easy victory against the haughty security guard.

"But if you kill us then you'll be put in prison!" The security guard spluttered.

"Oh, but I'm just an eleven year old, right?" Sephiroth said sarcastically, saying it in a tone that rubbed in the foolishness of the guard.

"Besides," He continued. "You _were _the one who attacked me first. And if I killed you then they would clean up your bodies and dump them in the dumpsters right outside the mansion. And then the garbage truck would come by and crush your bodies, compressing them in with the garbage. They probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two of you and the filth."

"But if you even managed to give me a single bruise," Sephiroth's eyes darted to the haughty security guard. "Then The President would let you rot in prison."

He paused.

"So, what will it be, gentlemen?"

The two men looked at each other, Chuck, his arms in the air, mouthed to his friend.

"_Just do what he says._"

The haughty guard sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine...you can have the girl. But just this once! I'll get you next time, kid!"

Sephiroth lowered his blade and put it back into it's sheathe, chuckling.

"I really doubt that."

The two men stood there, Chuck's arms still in the air.

"Well," Sephiroth began. "What are you waiting for? Get out of here before someone comes along and finds out what happened!"

The two men quickly scamped back down the hallway, the haughty security guards face scrunched up in anger, his eyes burning with hatred.

Sephiroth, now done with his two victims, walked back into his room and sat down by the window once again. He waited for the small footsteps and squeak of his door hinge. He only had to wait a few seconds.

Sephiroth took out his sword and began to sharpen it as the small blonde girl walked into his dark, gray room.

"Uh-umm, thanks for saving me." She walked into the middle of the room and stopped. A little bit afraid of her savior, having seen his power.

Sephiroth only responded with a grunt, still looking out onto the gray city.

"W-what do I do now?" She asked innocently.

"I'll call for some people to escort you back home." Sephiroth continued to say in his monotone voice.

"W-wow, thanks."

"When would you like to go?" Sephiroth continued, still looking out the window.

"Anytime, I guess?"

"Good, I'll call for some people now. You can tell them where to take you and they'll drive you there."

"Thank you."

There was more silence as Sephiroth pressed his face up against the window again, having already called the people he needed. The girl continued to stand in the middle of the room, scratching her right leg with her left foot.

"Thank you for telling me where the bathroom was, I was about to explode!" The young blonde girl laughed.

Sephiroth grunted once more,nodding his head slightly this time.

"So," The girl asked, pressing her face up against the window next to Sephiroth. He jumped back, surprised at how she had gotten there so quickly. But soon ignored it and pressed his face up against the window again.

The girl continued.

"Why do you press your face up against the window?" Her voice was muffled because her own face was pressed up against the window.

"And why does this smell so weird?" She asked.

"And you would know what a weird window smells like?" Sephiroth asked, almost breaking into a smile.

"Of course!"

Sephiroth looked over to her, thinking that she was being sarcastic, but then she began sniffing the window even more.

"Umm…" Sephiroth began, lifting one of his eyebrows as he looked over to the strange girl.

"I'm checking to see how weird it smells…" She continued sniffing. "On the weird scale of smells from one to ten this would be...a...7.5!" She said as she lifted her forehead from the window.

Sephiroth just sat there with his mouth wide open.

_Were all girls like this?_

"A pretty _weird _window!" The girl laughed.

"Who...are you?" He asked, astonished at how audacious this girl was.

"The name's Clarity!" The girl said in a chipper tone, smiling at Sephiroth and sticking out her hand for a handshake.

Sephiroth took her hand with caution and she shook it so violently that his entire body shook.

"I'm Sephiroth." He said his voice wobbling with the rest of his body.

"Nice to meet you, Sephiroth!" She said in the same chipper tone that she had when she told Sephiroth her name.

Then the door opened and a few people, two men and one woman, all in black suits and shades stood in perfect formation.

"We're ready for the girl." The woman said.

Clarity hopped up and looked back to her newfound friend.

"Bye! Thanks again for saving me!"

Sephiroth only nodded and then looked back out of the window.

Clarity walked towards the three people in black suits ready to receive her, and then once again, in the middle of the room, she stopped and looked back at him.

"Could I come back tomorrow?"

Sephiroth turned his head to meet her gaze.

"Sure."

The three people in the black suits nodded and and looked at each other, as if they were all taking mental notes.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Sephiroth continued, his face turned towards the glass once again.

"Bye!"

The three people in the black suits and shades escorted the young blonde girl out of the door and quietly shut it behind them.

Sephiroth continued to stare out of the window, his brow furrowed.

_Clarity, the window sniffer...huh…_

_**A.N: **__Well, that was the first chapter! I wrote the whole thing in a day, so don't be too hard on me :) But, I hope that you all liked it! Have a good night and MLK Jr. weekend!_

_And If you wouldn't mind, please comment, favorite and follow :) Thank you so much for reading!_

_-Dragonbytes :)_


	2. The White Queen

**Chapter 2**

_5 years later in the Shinra mansion…_

"Rook to C5!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Sephiroth smirked.

Clarity rested her head on her palm and stared at the black and white playing board.

"Why not?" She asked skeptically.

"Because your King is exposed!" Sephiroth said as if her mistake was glaring.

"Well, my Queen is protecting him!" Clarity continued to support her argument.

"But, he's exposed on all the other ends." Sephiroth pressed on.

"My Bishop is there!"

"I can take out your Bishop with my Rook!" Sephiroth continued.

"But then-!" Clarity began.

"But then?" Sephiroth mocked.

"Then," Clarity struggled to find her words, drawing them out and speaking slowly.

"Then I'll get you with my other Knight!"

"You mean this Knight?" Sephiroth asked with a devilish grin, trading out the creamy white horse figure on the board with his midnight black Bishop.

Clarity frowned, resting her chin in her hands and furrowing her brow, but then regained her smile and said,

"But that still leaves my-!"

"Your?" Sephiroth mocked, grinning slyly.

"Oh shush!"

Sephiroth laughed.

"That still leaves my Rook!"

"You might want to move it now though."  
>Clarity thought for a moment, staring at the chessboard, her eyes zipping back and forth between Sephiroth's pieces and her own. With a hesitant hand she slowly picked up her Rook and placed it a few spaces to the left.<p>

"There."

Sephiroth laughed as he moved his Queen to a black tile at the end of the board.

"Check mate." He smirked, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms.

Clarity's face swelled to an alarming shade of red.

"Hey, you tricked me!" Clarity growled as she leant over the small playing table towards the laughing Sephiroth.

"How many times have I told you not to trust me?" Sephiroth asked, still laughing.

"Just about every time we've played chess." Clarity frowned.

"See?"

"But I do beat you at Clue!"

"Really?" Sephiroth asked skeptically.

"Every time." Clarity replied with a smirk.

"Touche." Sephiroth said, still smiling.

Just then the door opened, the three familiar figures appearing in the hallway, all in black suits and dark shades.

"Miss Clarity, it's time to go."

Clarity got up and gathered together her chess pieces and make-shift chessboard made out of some of the loose floor tiles in the orphanage bathroom. She stuffed it all into her tattered navy backpack and started to head towards the door.

Sephiroth reached down to the ground to pack up a fallen piece, the white Queen piece.

"Hey Clarity!" Sephiroth called as she headed towards the door.

"Huh?" Clarity asked, turning around.

"You dropped this." Sephiroth said, holding up the white chess piece.

"Oh, you can keep it." Clarity smiled. "You are going out on a mission tomorrow, right?"

Sephiroth nodded.

"Then keep it as a good luck charm!"

The people in suits standing in the hallway grunted impatiently.

Clarity continued to walk out the door.

"Bye Seph!"

With that, the agents slammed to door and left Sephiroth alone in his dark room. He quickly walked to the window and looked outside, waiting for the shiny black car to safely exit the Shinra mansion grounds.

And then he would wait, watching the rain outside slowly pitter patter on the streets, and city lights go off one by one until the city fell asleep.

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The warm morning light shone on Clarity's face as she awoke. The air smelled of stinky socks and mildew, but nothing tha Clarity wasn't used to. She could hear a bird chirping outside of the window, and a woodpecker was drilling on the walls of the orphanage. But there was something else she heard, the relentless demands of Mrs. Bonty and the hard smack of a rolled up magazine to her tender face.

"Clarity! Wake up! there's someone here to see you!"

Clarity groaned as Mrs. Bonty hit her once again with the magazine, but then sat up. _Someone is here to see me?_

"Huh?"

Clarity quickly got dressed and combed her hair back so that she was somewhat presentable. She ran to the first floor of the orphanage where swarms of filthy children gathered around the long wooden table in the center of the room for breakfast. Close to the door there was a man, he stood with his hands behind his back facing the window. Down his back there was a long black ponytail and on his white lab coat there were green and brown stains.

He turned around, almost having sensed the presence of the girl who stood gawking at him. Resting on the bridge of his nose were two needle thin glasses lenses and his lips were so thin and cracked that they resembled two crackers.

"Ah, Miss Clarity. Care to sit down?" The man offered as he pulled out another kitchen table chair and gestured for Clarity to sit down.

"You're Professor Hojo, aren't you?" Clarity said, studying his body language and eyeing him skeptically. Sephiroth had told her things about The Professor. Not necessarily good things either.

"Correct. You're Sephiroth's friend, or am I mistaken?"

"Yes, I'm his friend. Why are you here?"

Professor Hojo sat up in his seat and wrung his hands.

"It's about Sephiroth."

Clarity's face filled with concern, remembering that he had gone on a mission this morning.

"Is he hurt? What happened?"

"Now calm down, he isn't hurt."

"Then what about him?" Clarity asked, sitting back a little in her seat.

Professor Hojo sighed.

"It's more about you than him."

"What do you mean?" Clarity asked, a little nervous about what The Professor was going to say next.

"He's growing up, and he needs to be alone for a while and focus on his work."

"What are you saying here?" Clarity asked, her voice shaky.

Professor Hojo sighed sorrowfully, looking down at the ground.

"I spoke decided that it would be best if you stayed away from him."

"W-what? You can't decide that!" Clarity said, her face swelling red with anger.

"I didn't want to tell you this, but I spoke with him this morning on the topic."

Clarity stood up, her fists clenched by her sides.

"And he didn't agree with you!"

Professor Hojo sat there, silent, looking at the ground. All the while Clarity glared at him.

"He _didn't _did he?"

"He said that he had been meaning to tell you that he wanted to focus on his work, to go separate ways."

"No!" Clarity backed away. "No he didn't! I don't believe you!"

Professor Hojo pushed himself up from his seat and placed his hands on Clarity's shoulders.

"Sephiroth is almost a grown man now, he needs to think about the future."

Hojo sighed and look straight into Clarity's teary, red rimmed eyes.

"If you care about him like I think you do, then you'll let him go."

There was a moment of silence, Clarity looked away from Hojo's gaze and straight at the window.

"I-." She started, still looking at the window, and still thinking.

Clarity looked to the ground, the dusty wooden planks covered in crumbs and dirt, a clump of dust blowing like a tumbleweed across the barren ground. And then after a few second she looked up and placed her own hands on Hojo's shoulders.

"Professor Hojo."

"Yes, Clarity?"

"I believe you're mistaken." Clarity smirked.

"What do you mean?"

"If _you _really cared about him then why did you leave him to be cooped up in his room for sixteen years?"

"Well I-."

"Someone who truly cares about him would go and kick some sense into him!"

Hojo scoffed, and was about to list all the reasons why that _wasn't _caring at all when a knee hit him right in the groin. Professor Hojo keeled over in pain as Clarity stepped back.

"There, Professor Hojo I cared about you and kicked some sense into you, and now I am going to go and kick some sense into my friend!"

Just then, seeing what had happened, Mrs. Bonty put her hands on her hips and her face swelled with anger, her large figure and chubby legs just about busting out of her tights made her look as if she was a bull, about to charge. Quickly, Clarity sprinted out the door, heading down the street and practically skidding around the corner to make it onto another street. She didn't know how she was going to get to Wutai, where Sephiroth was, but she was determined to get there, and for now all she could do is run. As she ran Clarity checked behind her to see if Mrs. Bonty or Professor Hojo was close behind, they weren't. But when Clarity went to look in front of her she ran right into what felt like a brick wall.

"Oh, Rude!" Clarity said, relieved, recognizing him as one of the agents who took her back to the orphanage each night. "Good to see you! What are you doing here?"

Just then another figure appeared behind her, the agent with the short blonde hair. Elena.

She stepped closer, making Clarity back up into Rude, who held her into place.

"I'm sorry for this." Elena whispered as she placed a chloroform soaked rag to Clarity's face.

_Ok, I know that was pretty short, but the next chapter will probably be longer! I hope that you enjoyed this and that you will review, favorite and follow :)_

_Thank you for reading, and happy Super Bowl!_

_-Dragonbytes :)_


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